Philips is suing Nintendo

[Rhomaios]

But are they? Do they really own a legitimate patent? I'm not a patent expert, but the patents that I saw linked in the thread were too generic to hold up to court scrutiny...or maybe not considering how shitty, vague patents owned by Apple etc. still get rulings in their favor. Patents and copyrights these days are far too abused.

[Mord]

 

Nintendo is using technology in their products that Philips holds the patent on, Nintendo has apparently ignored Philips requests that Nintendo pay licensing fees to sell technology based on said patent, Philips is now suing Nintendo after making attempts to handle this out of court and being ignored, I don't really see how this is a matter of bias or which company has given the world what.

 

It seems pretty cut and dry that Nintendo was up to some shady business practices, again, and once again they are being sued over it.

 

Given the quality of 99% of patents approved these days, I really think the patents involved should be closely examined by people that understand the technology. (hint: the patent office doesn't qualify.)

 

Nintendo went through similar patent problems over the wireless tech used in the Wavebird, which got the Wavebird banned from sale for years... until finally the patent got thrown out as invalid. Too late to save the Gamecube's wireless controller unfortunately. The exact same situation may end up happening here. If nintendo believes they have a chance to win a legal dispute over the patent(s) in question (that the patents are just bad and the result of a department paid to approve as many patents as possible) then there's no reason to say they're doing something "shady".

[Jess Ragan]

lol Totally NOT the point, I could care less WHO the other company involved is, wrong is wrong and if Nintendo is in the wrong they need to be held accountable. I could not careless, even as a Nintendo FAN, what they have contributed to gaming, only a fanboy would side with them for such stupid reasons.

 

Fine. A court in Europe has sided with Philips, which you'd expect as the company has a strong presence in that continent. We haven't seen how the court will rule on Nintendo's home turf in Japan, or in America. Also, do we know the full details of Philips' patents? Are they vaguely worded? Does Philips have a prototype? Does the patent have anything to do with interactive entertainment or was it intended for entirely different purposes?

 

And yes, I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt. This hasn't played out fully, and we don't know all the details. This isn't the first time Nintendo's been sued, and that highly dubious Donkey Kong lawsuit fell apart when it was not only determined that DK was a parody of King Kong, but that MCA didn't own the rights to the franchise in the first place. The same thing could happen here... that's why we have a court of appeals.

 

Also, I'll admit that I'm biased, but don't you don't claim the other members of this forum are objective when they start the topic with "Go for it Philips, sue the fuck out of Nintendo." They make it clear where their own loyalties lie with remarks like that. High Voltage in particular is as rabid a Nintendo hater as they get.

[Austin]

Maybe they should go back and sue Mattel while they're at it. Technically this is a pointing device as well when you play Super Glove Ball.

 

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

Also, I'll admit that I'm biased, but don't you don't claim the other members of this forum are objective when they start the topic with "Go for it Philips, sue the fuck out of Nintendo." They make it clear where their own loyalties lie with remarks like that. High Voltage in particular is as rabid a Nintendo hater as they get.

 

And I stand by exactly what I posted. Read my words carefully, the very same ones YOU quoted, I was speaking for MYSELF. AT NO POINT did I claim anything on other members behalf. So please, if you are going to quote me then at least read carefully before putting words in my mouth. You admit you are biased, fair enough, I am a Nintendo fan but really all I am saying is it is up to the courts to decide wither way. As you pointed out, we don't know all the details, so with that said let's just see how it goes. Honestly even with your Nintendo biased I'd have said nothing but your suggestion we should be backing Nintendo just because Philips had not contributed much to video-games was just too much IMHO.

Edited June 24, 2014 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[TPA5]

A patent is a patent, and this is hardly the first time Nintendo has infringed on another company's patents.

 

When I was a kid I loved Nintendo's systems and their games, then when I got older I started learning about Nintendo the company and while I still love Nintendo games, Nintendo does do some shady stuff business wise from time to time.

 

I for one am glad Philips is suing Nintendo, it's not like Nintendo doesn't have the money to pay licensing fees for the technology they put in their systems, they're just being shady again like back in the 80s and 90s when they maintained a stranglehold over the US market with their prohibitive licensing agreements and pressuring stores not to carry competitor's products.

 

Everybody has done shady business stuff. To participate in shady business dealings is to participate in business itself.

 

Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Commodore, they've all pulled moves that are less than savory. It's just a part of doing business, and companies get sued all the time.

[high voltage]

wow this is still going? I love my posts

[iswitt]

from CDi forum:

 

 

 

 

Wait... there's a CDi forum?

[high voltage]

 

 

Wait... there's a CDi forum?

http://www.cdinteractive.co.uk/forums/cdinteractive/

[Austin]

 

 

Wait... there's a CDi forum?

 

Yeah.. with pretty much no regular activity (I'm on it myself, but rarely visit. When I do pop in, it seems I typically haven't missed much.).

[cimerians]

Phillips gloats and puffs it's chest as they now can boast "Phillips technology" on Nintendo products.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/2/7319697/nintendo-philips-patent-settlement-wii-u

 

 

I'd like to see what Phillips products features these generic statements:

 

"products with interactive virtual modeling features"

"products with human-computer interaction features."

 

If I was a lawyer defending Nintendo I would say the first statement is called a videogame and the second is called a personal computer or better yet....a website.

[Crazy Climber]

I am surprised to see all the hatred for Nintendo in this topic.

Companies do this all the time, on both sides. Not a big deal. Everybody sues everyone they can that is doing better than them, thats business.

[Nebulon]

A patent is a patent, and this is hardly the first time Nintendo has infringed on another company's patents.

 

When I was a kid I loved Nintendo's systems and their games, then when I got older I started learning about Nintendo the company and while I still love Nintendo games, Nintendo does do some shady stuff business wise from time to time.

 

I for one am glad Philips is suing Nintendo, it's not like Nintendo doesn't have the money to pay licensing fees for the technology they put in their systems, they're just being shady again like back in the 80s and 90s when they maintained a stranglehold over the US market with their prohibitive licensing agreements and pressuring stores not to carry competitor's products.

Kind of reminds me of M$ back in 1991. I'll never forget the memo that arrived that year stating that M$ had requested that our retail chain pull all copies of DR-DOS and hide them from sight (only to be sold by request). If we didn't comply, we'd lose our M$ license. So naturally, our head office (and my manager) complied.

[Shawn]

So Nintendo obviously paid them off with cash and access to some Nintendo tech they probably don't give a shit about anyhow. Not surprised and very underwhelming conclusion.

[Seob]

Phillips gloats and puffs it's chest as they now can boast "Phillips technology" on Nintendo products.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/2/7319697/nintendo-philips-patent-settlement-wii-u

 

 

I'd like to see what Phillips products features these generic statements:

 

"products with interactive virtual modeling features"

"products with human-computer interaction features."

 

If I was a lawyer defending Nintendo I would say the first statement is called a videogame and the second is called a personal computer or better yet....a website.

They already did use it in the peacekeeper lightgun for the cd-i http://cdii.blogspot.nl/2007/05/inside-cd-i-peacekeeper-revolver.html

 

http://retrostuff.org/2014/08/26/philips-cdi-450-550-mad-dog-mccree/